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Chelmsford resident Rishi Sondhi taught himself how to invest for retirement. Now he seeks to share his wealth of knowledge. Learning the Buffet Way

By Dan O'Brien, dobrien@lowellsun.com

Updated:
09/02/2007 07:01:16 AM EDT

CHELMSFORD -- When Rishi Sondhi showed up for the first day of his job seven years ago as a chemical engineer at U.S. Filter, he was promptly handed a 4-inch-thick binder and instructed to choose his investment selections for the company's 401(k) plan.

Sondhi had not taken any business classes while on his way to becoming an engineer, and thus had "no clue" on how to build an appropriate portfolio.

"I thought I was behind, at a disadvantage" he said during a recent interview from his Chelmsford home. "But when I asked my co-workers for advice, it was clear they didn't know anything either."

Sondhi, then a Florida resident, embarked on a self-study of the investment world at his local library. What was first a curiosity became a passion. After admitting to initially getting caught up in the dot-com mania during the early part of this decade -- his first stock purchase, JDS Uniphase, would go on to lose 90 percent of its value -- Sondhi later embraced the ways of legendary value investor Warren Buffet.

"I learned the difference between speculating and investing," said Sondhi, 32, rattling off such Buffet-like terms as "discounted cash flow analysis" and "margin of safety."

"I consider myself to be a student of value investing," he said. The term is used to describe the discipline of seeking out investments that are selling for significantly less than what the investor determines, through fundamental analysis, to be their intrinsic value.

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While still a professional engineer and an amateur investor, Sondhi reached the point this year where he felt qualified to share what he has learned with others. His wife, Geetanjali, suggested that he contact Chelmsford Public Library, since it was at a library that he began to educate himself.

"I was starting to see good results," said Sondhi, who said he owns several mutual funds and a dozen or so individual stocks, mostly big multinationals. "I began to get questions from family and friends."

Beginning Sept. 13, Sondhi will host "Financial Fitness," a series of educational seminars designed to present financial information in a simple and non-sales format. Sondhi coordinated the event with Kathy Cryan-Hicks, the library's assistant director of community relations, and was able to land journalist speakers from the renowned Motley Fool organization as well as Sham Gad, a financial blogger and managing partner of an investment partnership.

Cryan-Hicks said the library frequently gets solicitations from professional investment advisers, but is wary of taking them up on the offer.

"Sometimes they have ulterior motives," she said. "We try to be careful about having our patrons being solicited. When Rishi explained what he wanted to do, and how he wanted to do it, I could tell that this was the kind of thing we were looking for. We wanted somebody to educate and inform, but allow people to make their own decisions."

Topics include retirement planning, stocks, mutual funds, investor behavior and estate planning. Sondhi addresses many of them in his blog, found at http://rishi-sondhi.blogspot.com.

Sondhi, who still works as an engineer at a U.S. Filter spinoff company, Pall Corp. of Northboro, said he was inspired to teach after recalling his colleagues' ignorance and recognizing changes that are taking place in retirement benefits.

"There are fewer pensions now, so it's on the worker to provide for himself," said Sondhi, who earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering in India and a master's at the University of Cincinnati. "People don't like to talk about it, and they're told it's rocket science when it's not."

He also said he is considering making investing more than just an amateur passion.

"I think so," he said, when asked if he would eventually consider investing as a profession. "I am looking at business schools to study investment management, and there are a lot of good ones around here."

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